


Saint's Blood

by budgewrites



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, horny applications for healing blood, maria bottoms for once in her life, pretentious oceanic imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:35:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/budgewrites/pseuds/budgewrites
Summary: Maria's blood was poison. Her lady's made it holy.
Relationships: Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower/Saint Adeline
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Saint's Blood

**Author's Note:**

> I've been chipping at this draft for literal months, so apologies if it's a disjointed mess.

The sun always hurt Maria's eyes the morning after the hunt. Even the soft pale of dawn was harsh behind drawn curtains in her quarters adjacent to the workshop. Nevertheless, she pulled the drapes back enough to push the window open. Just a hair, for the lingering scent of the flowers in her garden below. She pressed the heel of her palm against her eye, an unconscious effort at alleviating the ache of exhaustion that seemed only to make it worse.

Ah. And she was still wearing her gloves. 

Broad shoulders deflated as Maria let out something between a drained laugh and a sigh. Tonight's hunt had been uneventful, at least as hunts went, but the beasts in the lower districts were growing bolder, and they were more numerous every night. Her neck was sore. Her legs, her shoulders, her feet… She ached all over, and even though she could barely keep her head up, Maria knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. At least not any time soon. Maybe a warm bath would help, but the urge died before she could convince her feet to move. 

A knock at the door. Soft, but unexpected. 

Any outward sign of exhaustion disappeared in an instant. Maria's shoulders straightened, her chin tilted up in a far more acceptable image of a lady.

"Enter."

Her gaze was still fixed on the gardens below when her bedroom door opened. Soft footsteps over the threshold and the gentle snap of the door shutting behind her only meant one person.

The lock clicked.

Lady Maria's reddened eyes smiled.

"Gods, have you just gotten in?"

Adeline's voice was petals on an evening breeze.

"What answer would the Saint prefer?" Maria let her curtain fall closed as she turned, her weary gaze basking in her visitor's delicate frame.

"If I am to be so selfish?"

Maria nodded in a  _ go on _ gesture as Adeline crossed the worn floorboards of her little safe haven.

"Hanging your hat and washing your hands of the hunt."

Of course. Sweet Adeline, the top of her head barely reaching Maria's chin, came to a halt before her. A respectable distance. Anxiously intimate. Her fingertips came to rest on Maria's cravat, dashed with faint speckles of red from the night's excursion.

"So she has come to make an honest woman of me?" Maria tipped her head, admiring the splash of pink that crept across Adeline's freckled cheeks. 

"She has come to make sure you are looking after yourself," she barked with a playful push at Maria's shoulder. In spite of her sleep deprived lethargy, the larger woman barely budged. "The clerics were badly bloodied, tonight."

"Church hunters lack experience," Maria said with a thinly veiled scoff, "But that is why they have you." A gloved finger brushed the underside of Adeline's chin, gently guiding her eyes to meet her. Deep, warm brown. Insomnia or no, Maria could lie awake until the moon rose again simply watching them. Watching her. The hunt's wear on her mind and body remained, but it was quickly fading into a warm sort of exhaustion. Her heart skipped and something in her throat squeezed with that lightheartedness Adeline carried everywhere she went. 

"Yes, well…" Adeline mumbled, nervously glancing down and reaching into her robes to withdraw a tiny, ornate vial. She held it up between them. "That is why I have come to give you this, and make sure you're off to bed."

Maria's lips parted in quiet surprise at the gift. Its crescent moon stopper marked the vial's contents as special. Saint's blood. A treasure such as this usually did not make its way to the workshop. Laurence had had a way of making sure of that, lately. Maria took it, along with Adeline's hand, and held both gently against her chest.

"Have you stolen this?"

Their eyes met again, and the impish flash on Adeline's face immediately confirmed Maria's suspicion.

"I cannot steal what is mine to give," she countered, pressing more firmly into the ruffles of Maria's cravat.

"Of course." Maria lazily uncurled Adeline's fingers and took the vial. Hand still in hand, her lips brushed against the smaller woman's knuckles. A soft gesture of thanks that made that silly little smile bubble up on her lips again. Maria's favorite. "Only if you're certain it will not be missed…"

"It is mine. For you. And it is all I can give when the hunt has taken its toll, so you had best accept it," she insisted with a brief press of her hand to Maria's cheek. It was warm. "Now get out of your overcoat so I can administer it."

"Now?" It was Maria's turn to feel heat rising in her face, fluttering in her chest as she was abruptly instructed to undress.

"Unless you are so exhausted that I must do it for you?" Adeline met her eyes as she plucked Maria's syringe from its sterilizing satchel on the hunter's hip.

"I took only scrapes and bruises tonight."

"But I know how sleeplessness plagues you," she murmured, taking Maria's hand as she searched her weary eyes. "Good blood will help, and your night has been far longer than mine."

Maria's halfhearted objection subsided when Adeline craned her neck to remove her cap, the woman's breath ghosting across her lips and her stubborn will broken. Had she really forgotten to take that off at the door, as well?

"Alright," she cooed, crouching to kiss Saint Adeline's cheek. Maria let her eyes close, her heavy head coming to rest lightly against Adeline's. She let the other woman slip off her hunter's gloves, soft fingertips brushing over calloused palms. Then came the sound of her coat clasps coming undone. 

And was that…?

"Is a nun of the Church wearing perfume?" Maria teased, face turning to bury her nose in the crook of Adeline's neck as her hunting coat was slowly slipped off her shoulders.

"You noticed?" There was a quiver in Adeline's small voice, and Maria chuckled lazily. 

"You thought I wouldn't smell lumenflower on my lady's nape?" 

"I thought it might be a bit more subtle," she confessed, the flush returning to her face. 

"My dear,  _ subtle _ is something you have never been," Maria said, and she would have laughed, had she the energy, "Especially when you arrive at my chambers to seduce me."

Adeline squeaked as she buried her face in the hunter's chest. Maria let her coat fall to the floor behind her with another halfhearted giggle. She leaned back against the drawn curtains, and Adeline hid her face while making clumsy work of Maria's sword belts.

"Do you  _ ever _ take these off?"

"You know I do, but I could keep them on if it pleased you."

"Sit down, imp."

Maria's bleary smile lingered as Rakuyo clattered carelessly to the floor. She did as she was told, settling on her bed with a deflating sigh. The hunter rolled her shoulders, gently stretched her neck now that she was free of her heavy coat and cowl. She never noted quite all the aches and pains that followed the hunt until she finally managed to relax. Decompress. Breathe. Usually, she faced the vulnerability of morning alone. A hot bath and a glass of wine in a desperate attempt to coax some sleep.

Usually.

Maria had again occupied herself with rubbing at her irritated eyes when she felt a light tug at her foot.

Adeline was untying her boots.

"Love, you needn't—"

"Hush, I'll hear none of it."

Maria bit lightly at the inside of her cheek and leaned back on her wrists to let Adeline unlace her shoes and draw them gently off. She didn't miss the drag of her fingers down her calf, or the delicate hand on her thigh as Adeline finally sat with her. The mattress sank between them, drawing their bodies together as she uncapped the vial of her own blood with a tiny  _ pop _ . Maria blinked slowly, head tilted to steal a glance of the other woman's face through her curtain of dark waves and curls. Doe eyes, faint freckles, and truly the most inviting lips she had ever laid eyes upon... Fuller than Maria's, soft and gently parted as she focused on filling the syringe. 

Maria sighed against the restless heat building at the core of her. When she leaned in just so, the lumen perfume on Adeline's throat blended with her natural scent, and Maria was all but lost. She failed entirely to notice the pinch of the needle in her forearm. 

But what came with it became evident in a heartbeat. 

Adeline's blood sang into Maria's veins in lilting harmonies, rushed through her with such sweet ferocity that her heavy head fell slowly to the other woman's shoulder. It did not burn like the paltry samples she forced into her thigh in poorly lit alleyways when she desperately needed to close fresh wounds. It swept her away in a warm flood with every pound of her heart, and it  _ lingered _ unlike any healing blood she had ever taken. The knots hurting her shoulders, pulling the back of her neck, tying up her legs, unwound themselves and melted away. She had never felt so heavy, yet she expected she could float through the clouds if only she closed her eyes.

All at once, with Adeline coursing through her, Maria understood why so many fell to madness with it. 

She moaned, soft but undeniable. The sound was out before she could catch it, and if the hunter had not been flushed from blood ministration alone, she certainly was now.

"Forgive me," she managed, voice halting and face still pressed into the crook of Adeline's neck. 

"So milady approves?"

Maria could hear Adeline's smile, and she wondered who the imp was  _ now _ , but the thought died on her lips. She had no strength left to bicker.

Adeline's hands were in her hair (When had she withdrawn the needle?), untying the ribbon with every care taken not to tug. Her fingers combed it out, pressed gentle lines down her scalp, and Maria doubted she would ever stand again.

Breathe in.

Lumen. Adeline.

Breathe out.

The Church drapes about her shoulders tickled her nose.

Maria shifted closer, as close as their relative positioning could allow, maybe moreso, long limbs curling possessive around the smaller woman. She drew her leg into Adeline's lap, pulled their bodies flush to settle her thigh clumsily between her own— 

"Lie down, silly…" Another chuckle threaded through the gentle command, and Maria could do naught but as she was told, falling back against the pillows with the guiding press of Adeline's hand against her chest. Then careful fingers brushed against her throat, untying her cravat, unbuttoning her vest. 

Maria felt she was beneath a lead blanket, her weary arms and legs as sturdy as restless water. Still, so base was her response to Adeline's skin on hers, her back arching to press against the hands fiddling with the buttons of her blouse. She burned from the inside out, her heart and her veins and the very pit of her dancing around Adeline's blood, melting in her ears, trickling through her chest and humming sickly sweet low,  _ low _ in her belly. A sigh escaped her throat, stumbled from her lips as Adeline leaned over her, scooted closer on her knees until one fell dangerously high between Maria's thighs. The pads of her fingers were flint on her chest, pulling sparks under delicate skin as she undid the buttons over her collar, her sternum, the lean muscles of her abdomen. Warm hands urged her blouse open, bared Maria's flushed skin to cool morning air.

Adeline's touch coaxed the hunter's worn body back to life, her palms flat on the long slopes of her torso, stroking and soothing, curling gently around small breasts, teasing at tight nipples. Maria's tongue peaked between her teeth, lips parted and breath heavy. Her legs pulled at Adeline's, spreading and urging her closer. 

"Adeline…"

The name was heavy in her throat. Gods have  _ some _ mercy on her, she was burning from the inside out, twisting her hips to get the center seam of her trousers to align  _ just _ so, to alleviate the ache roiling in her belly for even a moment— 

Adeline finally offered a bare glimpse of relief, settled her thigh flush to Maria's center, swallowed the keen that spilled from her lips with a kiss. Maria's mouth surged into hers, tongue pressing between swollen lips for a taste, like there wasn’t already so much of this woman engulfing all of her senses, submerging her in tender affection.

And if this soft little Saint of the Church whispered that she could ease a hunter's wounds with nothing but the touch of her lips, the heat of her fingers, Maria would have believed her. 

Adeline let her have her way, humming quietly among the soft rustle of sheets and the creak of the old workshop cot. Maria's tongue rolled against hers with every rock of her hips, and Adeline's deft fingers faltered against her belt buckle before managing to pry it apart and undo the fastens of her trousers. 

Careful fingers slipped beneath leather and linen, sank into heated flesh, pulled a delighted shiver from Maria's core. Her eyes rolled shut, a strained sigh trickling from her lips ( _ Quiet, quiet, keep quiet _ ) as practiced touches soothed and stoked the pleasure mounting between her legs. Narrow hips lept toward Adeline's hand, chasing its relieving pressure as the burn between her thighs resonated with the rich blood dancing through her heart, her mind, racing under her sweat-slicked skin.

Adeline.

Adeline's blood.

Maria shuddered with the thought, and the floor of her constitution threatened to drop out from her right then and there. She fancied, a silly and stray idea, that her heart might be the moon, and their blood together forming some mockery of the tides, pushing and pulling, washing away the private hurt that lurked in the depths of her chest.

Maria's blood was poison. Her lady's made it holy. 

"Sweetheart—" She tripped on the word as Adeline's thumb nudged against her just so. "Inside, please."

Full lips latched onto Maria's throat as Adeline obliged, still painstakingly gentle, slow and careful. Her fingers met no resistance as they slipped inside, curled into wet heat with a filthy sound Maria knew would make her blush. 

Rarely was this Adeline's part to play when they fell into bed together, but she filled the role oh so beautifully. Maria's head tossed to the side, bangs tumbling into her face as her back twisted and boneless legs quivered. Her pulse remained hot in her ears, an ocean quickly coming to a boil in the pit of her. Quiet ripples curled her fingers and toes. The heavy ache and sate, ebb and flow sapped every remaining shred of her strength onto Adeline's clever fingers. 

Was she sinking? Was she flying? How could she say, when she couldn't see which way was up? Maybe it didn't matter at all, simmering like a teapot and rising to broad, rolling waves.

Hardly moments had passed since Adeline’s fingers had begun fluid strokes inside her, and the last thread holding Maria together was severed. She cried out when the urgent ache in her belly finally spilled, breathless and somehow weary in spite of the brilliant pleasure that crashed through every fiber of her. What little remained of her composure came apart on Adeline’s fingers, swept away in her blood.

Floating. She was definitely floating. 

Thunderous torrents tossed her every which way, filled her heart and her scrambled thoughts and her  _ lungs _ , but she was not drowning. The waves lingered just as the healing blood in her veins did, rolling into and over one another as Maria’s hips chased Adeline’s hand, riding this exquisite peak with urgent demand. 

She collapsed into her sheets as it finally receded, soft ripples quivering through her thighs and pulling a sigh from flushed lips. Adeline was still inside her, perched over her as her fingers rocked ever so gently to coax out the last flashes of pleasure Maria’s exhausted body might give. Her eyes were too heavy to open, but she laughed, the softest exhale as a bleary smile crept over her features. 

“Finally, the Lady closes her eyes.” Adeline’s tease was barely a whisper, but clear as morning in the silence of Maria’s bedroom.

“Will you stay with me?” she whispered, letting the gentle barb pass without comment out of sheer exhaustion. Maria groaned as Adeline’s fingers finally eased away, her hips and thighs offering one last contented squirm as the hot blanket of sleepy satisfaction fell over her. 

Rather than answer her question directly, Adeline shuffled up beside the woman she had miraculously come to call her own, drawing the quilt over them both as she settled in. Maria remained flat on her back, a contented sigh ghosting through her lips as Adeline nestled close, then closer.

Adeline’s heat, Adeline’s  _ life, _ still sang in Maria’s veins as their bodies curled warmly together, as her breath slowed toward easy slumber.


End file.
